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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

C for Cairo, Mesir ^.^

Alright, while waiting for my brother, I'm taking this opportunity to continue my "M for Mesir?" story. This time, I think I'm going to do the story telling in English. When reading the previous post, I think my BM is going down the drain (not that it would make things any better if I wrote this in English =.=").

So, moving on from where I stopped.

When the clock stroked 4am we took off from KLIA and headed to Kuwait, since we were flying with Kuwait Airline, there's no choice but to transit in Kuwait for a few hours before arriving to Cairo. Alhamdulillah, the journey was comfortable and quiet. Of course, since the flight was in the dead of night, many of the passengers snoozed off by the time we are off the land, and that includes me. Tired.

To be honest, I have a very faint memory on board. The only thing that I could remember was eating my supper, breakfast, and lunch. In between those meals, all of us prayed Subuh while seating, and we use the meal table attached to the front seat as our sujud area.

When we arrived at Kuwait, we took the time to wonder around the airport. The airport was really small, compared to ours in KLIA. There was merely any shop in it, and we don't dare to wonder around outside the airport, just in case we missed our flight. So, we wait patiently (^.^) at Kuwait Airport for a few hours, and we received free snack which consist of sandwiches and drinks. Then, we headed straight to the musolla. Inside, the temperature was very cold in deed, but very comfortable. The toilet next to it, was really clean. We've got the chance to wash up and pray zohor and asar. If it wasn't for our flight, we might as well doze off for a while, before continuing our journey.

The view from above is spectacular, during the flight from Kuwait to Cairo. We flew directly above the blue and green sea, endless oasis of desert, and cottons and cottons of clouds. It was as if we were being welcomed warmly by the nature. SubhanAllah...Allah swt allow us to see His beautiful creations. The view was truly speechless. By the time we touched down, my neck was sore, and I was in pain. That was because I was sitting next to the window all along, and I kept my head turn towards the window with a camera on my neck, snapping countless number of pictures.

It was around 2.30pm at Cairo when we arrived. Alhamdulillah... once we retrieved our luggage, we were welcomed by our two brothers, who Ive never met in our life before (my dad does, but only when he was a baby). The first one was my father's friend's son, while the other one was an indonesian ustaz who lived there, and own an avanza (to be exact, he owned three cars. All of which he -and the other indonesian ustaz- rent it out and help the indonesian and malaysian who needs a ride). They were really kind and welcoming to us.

Once we were out of the airport (after passing through a huge mass of taxi drivers), the first thing that my mom and I did was crouching down and touch the ground. Alhamdulillah... this is real! and I'm here in Cairo, Egypt! Shall I describe the view and the feelings? ^.^,

It was autumn I can say, and the breeze was so soft and warm with a touch of coldness in it. Very comforting. Of course, what is Eqypt without its desert? I could see there were many sand (pasir) and dust, especially visible on every car exist at those open car park in front of the airport. I think the cars there were painted with dust and sand rather than paints ^.^,

(Cairo's autumn sky. It was a very beautiful morning ^.^, )

The Indonesian ustaz drive us to the condominium that we are staying for the night. The journey was rather long since we need to go through some crazy traffic and climb the hills (by car of course). The journey took us around 20 - 30 minutes, but we somehow got lost, since the ustaz was not very familiar with the area. After asking around and make countless call to the hotel owner, we arrived at safely to our destination. We stayed at Monte Cairo Condominium Hotel, located at Mokattam Street, Mokattam. It was a very interesting journey, although we got lost, along the way, we saw so many interesting places and cultures of the people there. Especially on how they live, what they eat, how they travel, the way they wear their clothes and so on. That was enough for me... ^.^,

(The view from the balcony. I'll attach a better pics after I get my hands on the other camera's memory ^.^,)

At the cost of $43, we rent a condominium with one bedroom, two toilets, a complete kitchen (where you can really cook!), living room (with very comfortable sofas), TV and free WiFi connection. Our room was located on the 1st floor, with a view overlooking out to a beautiful swimming pool. What more could you ask for? We were so happy and comfortable on spending the night there. Since we have quite a number of heavy luggage and boxes, our back will break if we bring them up by ourselves. So, there were two man who worked there that helped us with the bags. They were so strong, that I thought for a moment that they were not human, but steel! They could bring two heavy luggage and a box by themselves in one go! Walking 500m and up the stairs. SubhanAllah, Allah swt gave them the strength, and they use it well, while we are not as strong as they are. That's the power of Allah swt, in giving the things that we need only, not the things that we wanted.
After performing our prayers and eat our dinner (masak sendiri ^.^), we headed straight for those warm bed, at 8pm. Tired. But happy ^.^, Alhamdulillah

(Our condo is the one on the very right of the pics. 1st floor)

(These minute grapes were delicious! As if there were small bombs of grape juice popping excitedly in our mouth ^.^)